Reflections
Minhagei Ashkenaz
The meticulousness with which the Jews of Ashkenazic descent have adhered to their traditions has allowed their customs to be preserved with exactitude from the times of the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash until today.
The ancient Jewish communities established along the banks of the Rhein river were those of Speyer, Vermeiza (Worms) and Magentza (Mayence), known as the communities of ‘ShUM’ after their Hebrew acronym. Their influence was felt in all the surrounding areas of Jewish settlement, extending to other countries too, via the gedolei haTorah who learned in the yeshivos there and then returned to their native lands, such as Rashi who returned to France, the Ohr Zarua in Bohemia in Austria, the Maharam Mintz and Harav Yaakov Pollack in Poland, the Shibolei HaLeket and Mahari Mintz in Italy and others in various other European regions. The flow of Jews from Ashkenaz to other lands over the generations strengthened the influence of the Ashkenazic tradition in every place where knowledge of it reached, and therefore until this very day, all those Jews descended from these communities are known as Ashkenazim and all others, Sefardim.
This notwithstanding, in Ashkenaz itself the Ashkenazic customs were preserved more meticulously than in any other region. The Sages throughout the generations stood firmly behind their traditions, attesting to their authenticity and importance. Many of the great Rishonim averred that the Chachmei Ashkenaz had transmitted faithfully the Torah as it had been known in the times of the destruction of the second Beis haMikdash. Who were these Chachmei Ashkenaz? “They were incredible geniuses and holy people, these great rabbonim from Magentza, Vermeiza and Speyer – was it not from these places that Torah issued to all of klal Yisrael?” Such were the words of the Ohr Zarua. The Torah as transmitted by the Chachmei Ashkenaz was accepted as Torah miSinai. The ancestors of the first Ashkenazi Jews were those who had initially settled in Italy after having been brought there from Eretz Yisrael by the Romans after the Churban. Therefore, the traditions that they brought with them and transplanted to the lands of Italy and Ashkenaz were considered almost equivalent to the traditions of Eretz Yisrael and Babylon.
In the matter of clarifying the correct versions of the prayers and the precise details relating to the fulfillment of the mitzvos, the great leaders of Ashkenaz were considered the most reliable authorities. In light of this, Rabi Yaakov baal HaTurim, in the name of his older brother Rabi Yechiel ben HaRosh, stated; “The pious ones of Ashkenaz were highly meticulous, and they would carefully weight each decision they made as to which words to use for the tefillos and the brachos.” This was in contrast to the Sefardic Jews who were not as particular regarding the precise versions of their prayers, and indeed the versions varied from kehillah to kehillah. The Abudarham stated that; “There are those who add [words] and those who omit them.”
Shul inj Heilbrun [צלם]
Rabi Shalom of Vienna, known as the Maharash of Neustadt, stated that the Torah was more perfectly observed in the Ashkenazic communities than in other lands, since the Ashkenazic Jews took interest on loans from the non-Jews and therefore they did not need to engage in labour, freeing them to devote themselves to learning Torah. Rabi Yaakov Segal, the Maharil and a talmid of the Maharash of Neustadt, determined that in matters of halachah, it was preferable to follow the Ashkenazic tradition rather than other traditions. He did not look favourably upon any tampering with the minhagei Ashkenaz, even if it was for the purpose of adding stringencies. Therefore, he disagreed with the suggestion that one should wash one’s hands an additional time before Shacharis. In his opinion, a person who conducted himself according to the altered version was himself the one who needed to adjust his actions in accordance with the customs of his ancestors – and also an arrogant person who dared to criticise the practices of those who had preceded him.
For many generations, Torah leaders placed their faith entirely on the reliability of the transmission of halachah and custom by the sages of Ashkenaz – even on matters which did not have an explicit source in the Gemara. When a question arose on the laws of writing a sefer Torah, Rabi Dovid Oppenheim, the baal Nishal leDovid, sought an answer in the practices of the previous Ashkenazic communities, examining their sifrei Torah that had been written several hundred years ago by the gedolim of the previous generations.
"The "New Shul" in Berlinן [צלם]
The tenacity of the Jews of Germany in holding on to their traditions was characteristic of their nature in general, from the earliest times. And it was this tenacity and stubbornness that did not allow them to alter the customs of their ancestors, mocked as ‘yekkishkeit’ by some, that is the mark of the original Ashkenazic Jews, both gedolei HaTorah and simple people. Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler ztz”l, the Michtav M’Eliyahu, wrote that the Jews are always influenced by the surrounding non-Jews amongst whom they dwell, and that this influence can make its own contribution to avodas Hashem. As an example, he mentioned that the German people are extremely particular on matters of precision and punctuality, and it was in that part of the world that the Jews developed a tradition of meticulous observance in matters both of halachah and transmission of custom.